


Envy

by Vashti (tvashti)



Series: Thirst [4]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Episode Tag, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Oz needs a hug, Post-Episode: s04e06 Wild At Heart, Pre-Iron Man 1, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 10:56:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15532725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvashti/pseuds/Vashti
Summary: Tony drew back, face tightening in confusion.  “Did you just say you needed a ticket to Tibet?  None of my boarding schools ever offered exotic Asian nations as places to study abroad.”“It’s not study abroad, Tony.  I mean, I guess sort of.  You could look at it that way.”The hair on Tony’s arms stood up as tension twisted his gut.  Oz didn’t babble.  Oz didn’t do confused, even when he was.  He certainly didn’t do distressed.  Trying to pin negativity on Oz was like trying to find the edge on a bowling ball.





	Envy

**Author's Note:**

> Written in prep for the TwistedShorts [Fic-a-Day Ficathon](https://twistedshorts.livejournal.com/). You should join us! 
> 
> Anywho, this isn't as beta'd as well as it should be. Or at all. Sorry!

The music pounding through Tony’s lab lowered. “Sir, your son is on the line.”

“Cool. Put’im through, JARV.”

“Of course, sir.” The music lowered further.

“Hey, Oz! What’s up, kid?” Tony said as studied the schematics for a small scale arc reactor “floating” in front him.

The arc reactor wasn’t his baby. The floating, holographic, biometric projector which he was using to manipulate the arc reactor blueprints was his baby. The arc reactor was a side project being handled by one of the Stark research and development team that consulted with Tony as often as Pepper could trick him into visiting their lab. That didn’t mean he wasn’t , a little, impressed. They’d gotten the arc reactor down from the size of a small McMansion to the size of a small house. At least in theory. They’d need to run a few more simulations before they could build a prototype and test it in the real world. At least that’s what Tony had said to the eager beaver researchers. That was until Pepper had given him a very distinct Look seconds before he was going to ask her for a pen so he could approve a budget for building.

The woman was uncanny.

“Dingoes gonna be in the area this weekend? I can avoid making any hot dates with a gorgeous models if you’re coming to town,” he said, still playing with the biometric holograms. “JARVIS, what’s—”

“Tony.”

“Yeah, kid.”

“I need your help.”

Tony stilled. He stared into midair as if he could see his son. The music that had been playing in the background – Rollins Band – stopped entirely.

Sometimes Oz asked Tony for advice. Often Tony gave Oz unsolicited advice. Oz never asked Tony for _things_. He had an actual honest-to-God dad for everyday needs (nowhere near as brilliant as Tony, of course, but smart enough) and both he and Rich Osbourne were too laid back to want or need much.

It had been a couple of years since Tony had discovered that he’d not only knocked up a fellow MIT classmate, but that she’d actually gone and had the kid. Since then, he and Oz (really Daniel, but the kid liked to be called Oz, so…) had developed a relationship that revolved around an appreciation for good music, a toleration of overinflated egos (Oz tolerating both Tony’s and his lead singer’s), their combined brilliance (which, although he’d never admit it, never failed to surprise Tony), and unending appetites for really good food that was really bad for you. Tony kept promising to scoop Oz up and fly him out to New York for an actual slice of New York pizza. Oz kept nodding and practicing chords, or dying his hair, or painting his nails, or doing whatever counter-cultural things most kids did to annoy their parents. That all three of his parents were totally copacetic, if not actually encouraging, didn’t seem to bother the him one way or the other.

“Tony, are you still there?”

Something else Oz never did: break the silence first. Tony had never met anyone so self-possessed and assured of themselves. Like, for real totally okay with who they were and not a front for all their secret insecurities. Oz had them. He’d discussed them frankly with Tony if/when they came up, but he was more cool than not with them. Tony wouldn’t admit it, not in front a firing squad equipped with weapons from his own locker, but he envied the way his son was comfortable in his own skin. If Howard Stark had spent more time with his baby boy instead of his bad babies, could Tony have had that, too? Or was Oz a unique product of the genetic soup of two hyperactively brilliant minds finally coming to rest. Was something magical about Rich Osbourne?

“Tony—”

“I’m still here, kid. What’s up? What do you need?”

Third strike: Oz also always understood Tony’s moods better than Tony did, and was better at sussing them out than Tony was at hiding them. Tony was pretty sure his mild panic was painful obvious to a six year old. Oz said, “I need a ticket to Tibet.”

Tony drew back, face tightening in confusion. “Did you just say you needed a ticket to Tibet? None of my boarding schools ever offered exotic Asian nations as places to study abroad.”

“It’s not study abroad, Tony. I mean, I guess sort of. You could look at it that way.”

The hair on Tony’s arms stood up as tension twisted his gut. Oz didn’t babble. Oz didn’t do confused, even when he was. He certainly didn’t do distressed. Trying to pin negativity on Oz was like trying to find the edge on a bowling ball.

“Kid. What’s wrong?”

“If you can’t help me, that’s okay. I’ll figure something out.”

Which had Tony blinking, then scowling, then saying, “What about your parents? Why can’t they fund this joyride to Sunny Tibet.”

“It’s not a joyride!” Oz snarled.

Tony’s eyes widened. “Was…was that…? Did you just growl at me?” And although it hadn’t been a growl (see “snarl”) there was now a low, menacing motor sound that definitely was. “Are you _currently_ growling at me?”

“Forget I asked!”

“Oz!” Tony snapped, eyes wide from the electric fear that zinged through him. “Oz, Oz, Oz… Hang on, buddy. You know your old man’s a jerk.”

Oz sighed, and it sounded like someone had cut his strings. Tony’s chest tightened and his arms prickled. He wanted to be there, wherever Oz was, so he could touch him and prove that he was still real. Maybe to prove this was actually a sleep-deprivation and alcohol-fueled dream he was having. He’d wake up, tell Oz all about it, and get that half-smirk and breathy laugh that seemed to be the only outward sign that he was actually Tony’s kid.

“I shouldn’t have bothered you, Tony. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, hey! I told you that you could come to me for anything. And if you can’t come to _me_ for lots of money to throw at a really reckless problem, who can you go to?”

“It’s kind of a long story. Or a really short one.”

“I make my own hours, kid. And now I’m curious. Talk to me.”

Oz cleared his throat but said nothing for a long moment. Then, “I, uh, I’m kind of…I’m kind of a werewolf?”

Tony felt his eyebrows climb up to his hairline and then try to go further back. “Run that by me again, kid?”

“I’m a werewolf?”

“You Late Late Late Saturday monster movie fest werewolf? Or _An American Werewolf in Paris_ werewolf? Or everyone’s favorite 80’s movie, _Teen Wolf_ werewolf?”

“Late Late Late Saturday monster movie fest werewolf.” Oz’s voice was somewhere between amusement and embarrassment, which Tony would have enjoyed more if his joy wasn’t on the proverbial floor.

“That’s not a good look, kid.”

“Our special effect budget was tight last year?”

 _“This has been going on for a whole year?”_ Anger Tony hadn’t known was bubbling in his chest raged through him. Because if Oz was joking, he would have given the punchline long before now. “How the hell did this happen and why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Apparently properly chastised by his least parental parent, Oz told him the admittedly brief tale: babysitting for family, an overly bitey little cousin, and a new affinity for the moon.

“Did your mom know lycanthropy ran in the family when she married Rich?”

“I dunno. Maybe. Didn’t think to ask.”

It took epic force of will for Tony to reign in the thundercloud of anger swirling through him. He wasn’t Howard Stark. Oz knew nothing about his paternal grandfather. He didn’t need his first introduction to come in Surround Sound.

“Okay. Okay. So I guess that’s a done deal and you’re handling it.”

“I thought I was.”

“You thought… So this is where Tibet comes in?”

“Yeah.” Then Oz told him the other half of the story. A girlfriend, an actual bitchy rival, and a dominance fight that ended with the female werewolf dead, and Oz questioning everything he knew about himself and his control.

“Okay.”

“So based on my research, if I can get to Ti—”

“I already said okay, kid.”

“Wait…I’m sorry…what?”

“I’ll fund the trip to Tibet.” Tony scrubbed his hands over his face.

“You will?” It was clear Oz thought he was begin set up.

“Kid, I told you a long time ago that if you ever needed anything, you should let me know. You need this. You came to me. Here’s me, helping you.”

Oz took a shuddering breath on the other end of the line.

“Didn’t think I’d do it?”

“Couldn’t be sure.”

Tony shrugged, though Oz couldn’t see it. “Yeah, well, you know how I like to be unpredictable.”

“Yeah.”

An uncomfortable silence descended between them for a moment, before Tony thought to ask when Oz wanted to leave. “As soon as possible,” he said.

Nodding, Tony said, “JARVIS, get on that, will you.”

“Of course, sir.”

Oz let out a gusty breath. “Thanks, Tony.”

“Uh…” Tony looked down at his, for once, clean hands. “So there’s kind of a condition of all this generosity.”

“Buffy will break you.”

A bark of surprised laughter broke out of Tony. “How about she’s underage?”

“That’s never stopped you from asking before.”

“Good point, kid. And that’s all I ever did: ask. No, this is serious.”

“Yeah?”

“You gotta tell your folks.” Another uncomfortable silence descended, into which Tony said, “I take it that means you haven’t already.”

“Yeah. I mean, no.” The guilt carried over the phone lines clearly. “I don’t want...”

“You think they’ll love you less or something?”

“Or something.”

Tony sighed. He hated having to be the grownup. That was usually Pepper’s job. “Look, kid, you’ve got really great parents, present company not included. I mean, seriously? I make a better cool uncle any day. Which is not the point. Your parents don’t deserve to wonder what happened to their kid. They already know you’re a werewolf?”

He left it as a question and was relieved when Oz said, “Yeah.”

“Then they know that it’s dangerous to be you. From what you told me, you were defending your girl, Willow, and if you hadn’t then she’d probably be dead and this Veruca chick would be guilting you into thinking it was your fault.”

There was more silence, but it was thoughtful instead of uncomfortable. Eventually, Oz very quietly said, “I don’t know how to talk to them about this.”

“I wish I had better advice for you. My old man and I never figured out how to talk like civilized people. We could compete, we could snipe, we could yell, we could give a cold shoulder that would make a polar bear wince, but conversation never really worked for us. But you, kid. You can talk to your parents about anything.” Tony sighed. “I kinda envy that. Though if you ever tell anyone I said so, I’ll deny it.”

Oz chuckled. “Got it.”

“So have your folks call me after you talk it out, and I’ll give them the flight arrangements.”

“Don’t trust me?” Tony could hear the raised eyebrow.

“With my genes running around inside you somewhere? Yeah, no.”

Oz chuckled again. “Thank you, Tony. I really—”

“Ugh! Enough with the mush. Did you hear the part where I said I don’t do this serious conversation thing? Talk to the ‘rents, kid. I’ll be here when you get back.”

“I know.” And the line went dead.

Tony stared at the empty air, the implicit faith of those two words – _I know_ – resonating in his chest.

 

In[Fin]ite

 

 


End file.
